By Honorary Reporter Mitchell Blatt from U.S.

Photo = Korea.net, Mitchell Blatt

To visit Baengnyeongdo Island, I took a ferry from Incheon Ferry Terminal. Boats to the island depart twice a day at 8 a.m. and 1 p.m., and the ride takes four to five hours. Baengnyeongdo is the final stop after two other islands just to the south.

Baengnyeongdo is Korea's northernmost island and its westernmost territory, which puts it right at the tip of the Northern Limit Line dividing the two Koreas and just 13 km south of North Korea's Ongjin-gun County in Hwanghaenam-do Province. The island and about six others off the coast of Incheon are also in the city's county of the same name. Before the division of the Korean Peninsula in 1953, both counties and the islands used to be part of Hwanghaenam-do.

The island features a lot of history from the Korean War and the Cold War that continues to present day. For instance, Sagot Beach was used as a landing strip by Allied planes during the Korean War. Monuments throughout the island commemorate South Korean soldiers killed in North Korean attacks from the 1970s to the 21st century. The most recent clash occurred in 2010, when the South Korean naval vessel Cheonan was sunk by a North Korean torpedo, resulting in the deaths of 46 crew.

View of Sagot Beach from above. (Mitchell Blatt)

In addition to its military and historical significance of the island, Baengnyeongdo should be visited because it's one of the country's most beautiful islands.

The beaches are long and expansive. Shells wash up in large numbers on several of the beaches. Brightly colored flowers blossom along the roads. Kongdol Beach has round pebbles in a variety of colors such as gray, red and purple.

A beautiful sight at Dumujin is the boulders and rocks. (Jeon Han)

The most spectacular (and famous) view is that of the boulders and rock towers sticking up out of the water at Dumujin, a beach cobbled with beans. For the best view, walk along a path over the hillside to see rocks jut up tens of meters in the air from the sea. As an American from the U.S. West Coast, I consider the rocks to look like the mesas of Nevada and New Mexico.

Baengnyeongdo Island is rich in both history and unspoiled nature. (Jeon Han)

enny0611@korea.kr

*This article is written by a Korea.net Honorary Reporter. Our group of Honorary Reporters are from all around the world, and they share with Korea.net their love and passion for all things Korean.